


but i'm not just your friend

by elhopperperalta



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:27:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26619700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elhopperperalta/pseuds/elhopperperalta
Summary: ben calls leslie his friend, and she doesn't know how to feel.
Relationships: Leslie Knope/Ben Wyatt
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	but i'm not just your friend

**Author's Note:**

  * For [@rosasknope](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=%40rosasknope).



> this was not supposed to be so angsty LMAO but here you go anyway, there is of course a happy ending because i'm not that mean:)
> 
> for my love orly, because she just deserves the entire world and i love her very very much <3

His friend. 

Ben had called her his… friend?

Wait, was he ashamed of her? He couldn’t be. No, that wasn’t her Ben. He loved her, and she loved him, very much. Surely he wouldn’t be ashamed to admit that in front of his higher class work colleagues?

Yes, maybe she didn’t know how to act in there with all these women turned down their noses at the sight of her, and yes, maybe she was overreacting a little but the love of her life calling her just a friend hit right where it hurt.

She needed to get out of that room. And fast, before anyone noticed the tears about to fall down her face. She hated this. Leslie Knope wasn’t ever sad. She couldn’t let herself cry over one little slip-up her boyfriend made. Yet her hands were now shaking and there was nothing else she could do other than run to hide in the depth of the coat rack in the corridor.

She turned her face to the wall, and cried until no more tears came.

About half an hour later, maybe twenty minutes, she heard a voice, a familiar one, coming from around the corner. She lifted her head from where it was resting on the wall and glanced up, her eyes still blurred with unshed tears.

Was it Ben?

Hang on. It was Ben.

‘Leslie?’ He was saying, over and over, ‘Honey? You there?’

Maybe she was mad at him, but she couldn’t hide from him forever. So she pulled herself up from the floor and dragged her feet out into the corridor.

He spotted her, and his eyes lit up. ‘Leslie! There you are, I was so worried..’

He walked closer to her, and his grin quickly dropped to a frown.

‘Les?’ He asked, his eyebrows furrowed in concern, ‘are you okay?’

One singular tear dropped down the side of her face. He reached out to wipe it away with his thumb.

‘Hey, what’s up?’ He whispered softly.

Leslie didn’t know what to say. What could she say? Oh, I’m just slightly pissed off cause you called me your friend back there, I’d like you to please apologise? No, she couldn’t say that. 

So instead, she blurted out…

‘You called me your… you called me your friend!’

A beat.

‘…what?’

Oh god, that came out way angrier than it was supposed to. She took a wobbly breath and tried again.

‘Back there, in front of all those people. You called me your friend.’

‘Oh Leslie, I’m so sorry, that was a mistake-’

‘Are you ashamed of me??’

‘What? No, of course not, of course I’m not..’

‘Then why did you say it.’

He sighed and rubbed his forehead like he always does when he can’t figure out how to form a sentence. 

‘Les,’ he reached for her hands, ‘I am so, so sorry. That was so stupid of me. I guess I just wanted so much to be noticed by these people that I forgot to talk about the one person who matters to me the most-‘

‘Ben,’ she interrupted him again, ‘it’s okay, babe.’

‘No, Leslie, it’s not,’ he lifted his hand up to cup her cheek gently, and wiped away a stray tear, ‘it’s not okay at all. I shouldn’t have said that, I really shouldn’t. And again, I am so, so sorry. I’ll do anything to make it up to you, anything at all.’

She laughed softly at him and reached out her arms for a hug. He willingly accepted it, wrapping his arms around her and kissing the top of her head.

She leaned back to smile at him. ‘Maybe just introduce me as your girlfriend, from now on?’

‘Of course,’ He smiled back, his hands framing her face and brushing her fringe away from her eyes, ‘let’s start now.’

And with that, he grabbed her hand and led her back into the party. 

Nothing was more important to him than her, and he was never gonna let her forget that.


End file.
